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Donovan Catholic, Toms River East Make it an All-Toms-River Final at Kevin Williams Classic

Matt Manley|December 29, 2025|Last Updated December 30, 2025

Shore Sports Insider Contributor Jackson Batchler contributed to the reporting in this post.

TOMS RIVER — Brady Gillen is on track to have one of the better boys basketball careers of anyone who has played at Toms River East High School and while the sophomore standout wears his Raider black and blue with pride, he has roots in Toms River that extend farther to the boundaries of the east side of town.

Donovan Catholic junior Gabe Feliciano can make a similar claim. Now in his second year at Donovan Catholic High School, Feliciano started his varsity career as a freshman at Toms River East.

Both Gillen and Feliciano know as well as any current high-school player the meaning of a town-vs.-town battle between two Toms River teams with a championship on the line and the two will be on opposing ends of one those games when Gillen’s Raiders meet Feliciano’s Griffins Tuesday evening in the Steve Gepp Bracket championship game at the Kevin Williams Christmas Classic at Toms River North’s RWJBarnabas Health Arena.

“This is what we wanted,” Gillen said. “It’s the best tournament at Christmas. It’s great (we’re playing for a championship) and it’s great we’re playing Donovan.”

Donovan Catholic, the No. 10 seed in the tournament, defeated No. 11 Toms River North, 54-51, to advance to the Gepp Bracket final for the second time in three years, while No. 13 Toms River East followed with a 56-52 victory over No. 9 Colts Neck. Gillen led Toms River East with 24 points, while Feliciano scored a team-high 13 to pace Donovan Catholic.

“It’s been a great atmosphere so far, especially playing two Toms River teams,” Feliciano said. “It means a lot to play in this tournament and when it’s a rivalry game, it just makes it that much more intense.”

Gillen is the son of two decorated athletes from Toms River East. His father, Ted, is currently the Toms River District athletic director and the former varsity boys soccer head coach at Toms River East. Ted Gillen starred as a player for Toms River East and later at Penn State before going on to a professional career with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in Major League Soccer.

Brady’s mother, Vicki, enjoyed a long run as the head girls basketball coach at Toms River North, which came after a standout playing career at both Toms River East and Central Connecticut State University.

With two parents who made names for themselves at Toms River East and have lent their experience to other schools in town, Brady Gillen has an appreciation for the entirety of the Toms River ecosystem. He also has a comfort level shooting at the arena at Toms River North that most players don’t have thanks to his mother’s many years coaching the girls basketball team that calls it home.

“As a little kid, you come here and watch,” Gillen said. “You dream of playing in this and it’s amazing now that it’s finally a reality.”

During his freshman season at Toms River East in 2024-25, Gillen averaged 15.9 points, 2.3 assists and 1.8 steals for a young Raiders team that went 11-16. With 47 points in two games at the Kevin Williams Classic and 96 total through five games this season, Gillen already has 525 career points to his name, with a reasonable chance to reach the 1,000-point mark by the end of his sophomore season.

Like Gillen, Feliciano began his high school career as a promising freshman at Toms River East. During the 2023-24 season, Feliciano worked his way into the starting five and averaged 4.3 points per game for a 10-15 Raiders team. A year later, he made the move west on Route 37 to attend Donovan Catholic, where he posted 7.3 points, an even three rebounds and 1.2 assists per game as a sophomore. So far in 2025-26, Feliciano is averaging 9.75 points per game after turning in his best offensive performance of the season on Sunday.

“They are a really good team,” Feliciano said of his former squad. “They are young, they listen and they play hard.”

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Griffins Continue Run Through the Toms River Gauntlet

When the two brackets for the 2025 Kevin Williams Christmas Classic were released, both Donovan Catholic and Toms River South were staring at a potential tournament run that would require beating the three other Toms River schools to win a bracket championship.

In round one on Friday, it was Donovan Catholic that survived that showdown with a 61-50 victory over the Indians and on Sunday, the Griffins had to get through another local nemesis in Toms River North. Just six days prior to their Gepp Bracket semifinal meeting, Toms River North coasted to a 67-57 win over Donovan Catholic in which the Mariners led by double-digits throughout the second half.

“We boxed out this time,” Feliciano said. “Last time, we didn’t get stops. We also pushed the ball a lot more and got offense off of that and last time against them, we didn’t look for that enough.”

Sunday’s rematch appeared to be trending toward a similar outcome when Toms River North built a 17-9 lead by the opening minute of the second quarter, but Donovan Catholic finally gained ground on the Mariners with a 17-7 run that gave the Griffins a 26-24 lead, which was 28-26 by the end of the half after Feliciano drove past his man for a finish at the rim in the closing seconds of the second quarter.

Neither team led by more than two points during the third quarter, with Donovan Catholic taking a 40-39 lead into the fourth. The Griffins opened the fourth with a floater by junior Anthony Streeter and a bank shot by sophomore T.J. Hunter to push the lead to five, but Toms River North came right back with a three-pointer by senior Jayden Thomas and a pair of free throws by sophomore Jake Greenberg to even the score, 44-44.

Toms River North gained some separation in the middle of the quarter when Greenberg connected on a three-pointer that broke a 46-46 tie, followed by a layup by junior Logan Brill to set the Mariners lead at 51-46 with four minutes to go.

“We didn’t get rattled,” Feliciano said. “We stayed calm and we were just getting stops on defense. The last time we played them, we got sped up on offense, but this time, we played at our pace.”

After Brill’s basket, Donovan Catholic did not allow another point and began their game-clinching stretch with a baseline reverse by senior Pat Gallo, who like Feliciano, transferred to Donovan Catholic from the Toms River public school district, with Gallo coming from Toms River North.

With 1:50 to go, Feliciano fired up a game-tying three-pointer from the left wing, evening the score, 51-51.

“We lost some starters and a couple point guards from last year, so I have had to step it up,” Feliciano said. “My goal was to be more aggressive, be more selfish at times, but also get my teammates involved too. In moments like that, I have to be ready to take the three.”

He then stole the ball on the defensive end and drew a foul that sent him to the line for two shots and a chance to give the Griffins the lead with 38.3 seconds left. After Feliciano missed the first free throw, Donovan Catholic coach Mike Kearney took a timeout and Feliciano used the opportunity to gather himself. He returned to the floor and hit the second free throw to put the Griffins on top, 52-51.

“I had to calm myself down,” Feliciano said. “I was walking around, taking deep breaths, slowly getting myself ready. I missed that free throw because I was thinking too much, so I just tried to keep my mind off it during the timeout.”

Feliciano returned to the line after his defense delivered a stop and hit two more free throws and Greenberg’s contested, potential game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds was off the mark.

Donovan Catholic is one of several Shore Conference teams led by two freshman top scorers in the early going of 2025-26 and Feliciano stepped up while those two freshmen came up short of their season averages. Leading scorer Gerard Gallo finished with 11 points and fellow freshman Eric Sulkowski put up nine for Donovan Catholic.

“Those two freshman are dogs,” Feliciano said. “They put in work over the summer. Sulk and then off the bench with (sophomore) T.J. (Hunter), they do a lot of work on the boards. They listen to me, they trust me so I try to give them the knowledge of how to play the right way.”

Greenberg led all scorers with 21 points and Thomas netted 11 for Toms River North.

A Win Fit for a Champion

Toms River East is still one win from capturing the Gepp Bracket championship and its first Kevin Williams/WOBM Christmas Classic title of any kind since 2000, but to get to the final, the Raiders had to beat a champion.

Reigning NJSIAA Group III champion Colts Neck got off to a hot start against the Raiders on Sunday and sophomore Nate Sloane scored 17 of his game-high 27 points in the first half while also adding seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks. As the game advanced, however, Toms River East reduced Sloane’s impact, with his two blocks both coming in the first two minutes and his two steals in the first quarter.

On the other side, Gillen warmed up with nine points in the first quarter on three three-pointers that propelled the Raiders to a 16-11 advantage to end the quarter after Colts Neck began the game on a 7-0 run.

The Cougars then opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run to take a 21-18 lead, with Sloane scoring the first seven of those points. Toms River East junior Chase Baillie closed the half with a three-pointer to tie the score, 23-23.

Colts Neck went ahead, 32-28, early in the third before Toms River East countered with three-pointers by Gillen and senior Austin Weber on consecutive possessions to go up 34-32. Although the Raiders never led by more than four points the rest of the way, they also did not trail from that point on.

Toms River East held the lead until Colts Neck senior Liam Collura scored off a feed from classmate Dillon Younger, then hit 1-of-2 free throws to even the score, 45-45. Raiders senior Shamus O’Grady scored in the paint to put his team back ahead, which Colts Neck countered with another layup from Collura to make it 47-47.

Gillen drew a foul on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws to regain the lead for Toms River East, 50-47. Nate Sloane came back down and hit a game-tying three-pointer to even the count at 50-50.

Gillen then lined up a three-pointer from four feet beyond the arc and nailed it for a 53-50 Toms River East lead with 1:30 to go. Sloane again countered with a layup to pull the Cougars within 53-52 with 1:21 still remaining.

O’Grady hit one of two free throws with 29 seconds left to push the Raiders lead to 54-52 and on the other end, Gillen came up with a steal and was fouled with 4.5 seconds remaining. The sophomore sank both attempts to clinch the victory.

“You just have to be ready to step up into a role and be comfortable being a leader and being the guy,” Gillen said. “I’ve got good guys around me who can score, who can play off the ball well. I know I can trust them and they trust me, so it works well.”

Sophomore Tommy Intintola also played a key role in Toms River East’s win, putting up 18 points to go with six rebounds, with 11 of Intintola’s points coming in the second half. For Colts Neck, Collura finished with 11 points and Younger contributed five points, nine rebounds and seven assists in defeat.

Toms River East is now 4-1 with a chance to pick up its fifth win of the season before the calendar turns to 2026. The Raiders have not authored a winning season since 2019-20, which was the third of three straight winning seasons.

“The approach stays the same,” Gillen said. “Play like dogs. Limit the turnovers, play good defense and just do our thing.”

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